The Painful Reflection
by kawaii-rae
Summary: Annie and Kenji are the best of friends and Annie is almost over her brother's sudden death. But 2 years after her brother's death, she sees him again, but as someone else.


It was the beginning of September and the beginning of a new school year. I dressed in my uniform and clasped my blue name tag on to my shirt. I gleamed at the young handsome gentleman that stared back in the mirror.

"Kenji! You're late!" my mother yelled from the kitchen downstairs.

"Coming!" I shouted back. I grabbed my comb and brushed a couple of strokes with technique through my jet black hair and rushed down the stairs heading towards the kitchen. As I snatched my lunch bag, my lips brushed against my mother's cheek as they did every morning and said "See you for dinner," heading out the door. I picked up the bike that leaned against my front gate. I sat on the seat and gave my right foot a push and peddled towards Annie's house.

Even if I was blind, I'd still be able to picture Annie's house. It was this huge house on the block painted with an ivory white. It had cast iron gates with swervy designs supported by a seven foot stone wall surrounding its circle driveway with a water fountain in the middle.

Annie stood outside her house leaning on the stone wall with her arms across her chest. I stopped in front of her as my tires gave a screeching noise. She looked at her Hello Kitty watch I bought her last Christmas and gave me a dirty look.

Annie Jeong-Nakamura is a living hybrid of two similar but different cultures. She is half Korean and Japanese. Annie was born in South Korea, but moved at the age of 3 to Japan due to family business. We got to know each other pretty well because our parents grew up together and she attended the same schools as I. Ever since we were young, I've always watched over her and she always called me her best friend or supposed 'play brother'. She was thin and short with straight long and black hair that ended at her hips and her bangs partially covered her forehead. Her chocolate brown pupils stared back at me out of her almond shaped eyes and her soft pink lips parted as she said, "You're late." She said with irritation as she hopped on the back of my bike.

"Seriously. I've been picking you up every morning since 6th grade. How you gonna tell me I'm late." I answered back.

"But when I do say 'you're late', you come up with the same response." Annie gave me the 'I'm right, you're wrong' look.

"Touché." I said with my head down. This is like those games that I never win at. Seriously, she's too witty for me and always has the best comebacks you could ask for. I sighed and started peddling. We passed by a street full of Japanese maple trees that practically turned sky an orange brown color. The street was littered with leaves leaving behind a crisp crushed noise when my bike runs over them. As soon as we arrived to the entrance of Hachioji Academy, the school bell rang.

"Great, now we're late." Annie said hopping off my bike.

"But we always are." I whispered under my breath. "I don't know how today can be any different."

"Well, today just so happens to be the first day of school, dumbie. Now let's go!" Annie snapped; grabbing my wrist as I tried to lock my bike and yanked me to follow her to class. Annie jerked our class sliding door open, causing a loud bang noise.

"We're sorry, sensei!!" we both shouted and bowed our heads to show our admission of guilt and the room became silent. I was wondering why it was so quiet until I looked up to see all my classmates looking at us from their card games, chatting, reading magazines and whatnot. I scanned the room to see if our teacher was here, but she was nowhere to be found.

"This is…" Annie said but couldn't complete her sentence.

"…abnormal." I finished. This was odd. Our sensei is always on time no matter what. Hmm. Annie and I walked to our proper seats and sat down. I turned to the left of me to see her head propped up by her hands. "At least we're not late." I smiled.

"Shut up!" Annie said playfully, hitting me gently. Her adorable smile made me recall on our talk the other day.

_It was last week, while we waited for a bus to take us somewhere, I have forgotten where though. We sat on the wooden bench looking at the kites above us. _

"_Annie." I said. Her eyes drifted towards me curiously. "I have a question. Well, it started with, no. I mean, have you….did you.."_

"_Spit it out already." Annie snapped with frustration._

"_Okay, okay." I said. "Um, are you…you know, over him?" I asked timidly._

_Annie gave me a confused look. "Who, Tommy? I thought we went over this. I dumped __him__, so __he__ should be the one trying to get over __me__."_

_I shook my head with dissatisfaction. "No no no…I meant him." I pointed to her flower shaped necklace that dangled on her neckline. Annie looked down. Her hands lifted and her fingers stroked its silver petals. Then, she gave a faint smile. She looked up at the sky and placed her hands on the bench ends. "I guess so. I mean I still miss him and all. I do cry occasionally but not all the time like before. I don't know. I guess I'm almost there to letting him go." She looked back at me with sincere eyes. From that moment on, I was speechless. Her heart nearly healed and here I thought she'd never get over him. Her eyes parted from mine and she pushed me jumping up. "Bus!!" She screamed with excitement._

Just then, our teacher opened the door with a student behind her.

"Okay everyone. Back into your seats!" Sensei Takashi commanded. "I'm way behind! Let's go. Move it." Sensei Takashi stood by the podium in front of the class. She pulled out a bunch of papers from her bag and adjusted her glasses. "Alright….I'm taking attendance. You know the drill. Abarai Hiro…Byakuya Tomo…" Sensei went through the list, calling everyone's name and not skipping one person. Believe me, doing this for five minutes everyday is torture. She continued, "…Nakamura Annie….Mastumoto Kenji.. Wow." She paused. "Hmm, you two are early for once. Congratulations." Annie and I exchanged looks. She continued, "Alright, class. I have some announcements, but first thing's first. I want you to introduce you to a foreign exchange student. His name is Jin Yang and he's from South Korea. He'll be here for a year, so make him feel very comfortable. Oh, and write your name on the board." She threw a piece of chalk as he walked into the classroom. He caught it with perfection and with a few quick strokes, his name was complete. I can remember it all. When Jin turned around to face the class, my eyes were locked to his face. I was in complete shock, I couldn't move. I quickly turned to see Annie's face. Her eyes were watery. Her facial expression was emotionless. I looked back to see Jin's face once more. I swear, he's the exact replica: the short jet-black hair, the broad shoulders, the almond-shaped chocolate brown eyes, the exact mirror image of him. It couldn't be. I turned to see Annie run out of the classroom with tears streaming down her cheeks. I ran after her. I didn't care about my teacher yelling at me. I didn't care about my DS in my book bag left unattended. I didn't care about my lunch being stolen by Sasuke. My only intention was to help Annie fight the pain that consumed her from that very sight of Alan's physical body.


End file.
